Marketing Lessons Learned The Hard Way

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Using A Lead Generation System To Grow Your Business

I joined my first network marketing company over 10 years ago and since that time I have had so many ups and downs in the business that I have quit and restarted several times. Unless you are brand new to the industry you no doubt know what I am talking about. And even if you are new, you understand now that running out of people to talk to is going to cause you to quit or go broke. I ran out of people to talk to in my first week and I paid over 8 thousand dollars for lead generation services because what I didn’t know at the time was I needed to have a lead generation system.

But creating one is not easy.

Whether it be I ran out of motivation or I ran out of money or both, network marketing seemed to just suck the life out of me.

I’m not talking slowly either.

I would join a company with the thoughts that this would be the one, this is the one that I am going to be successful at.

Then reality would set in and not only take the wind out my sails, but would burn the sails Viking funeral style and sink the boat just to make sure I quit.

And I did.

I only got back into it a little over two years ago because my wife and I were tired of struggling and we knew that if we could just figure it out, network marketing would be the key to our financial success.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying here. Network marketing is actually pretty darn hard no matter how long you do it. But the residual income you can create by getting the right people around you is outstanding.

So I joined yet another company, but more importantly I joined a team who claimed they offered a lead generation system.

I was excited because I wouldn’t have to try recruiting my friends and family any more.

But come to find out this so called lead generation system was merely the up-line going out and buying leads from each other that they had purchased then reselling them to us struggling marketers to the tune of $3000 for 500 leads, monthly.

Needless to say, I quit them too.

I didn’t quit the company though, I actually got into internet marketing and started to learn search engine optimization from a group of wonderful people who were already successful.

I learned about the importance of keywords, conversions, backlinking, on site and off site optimization.

I also learned that regardless of how much SEO I knew, I still needed a lead generation system if I wanted to become successful in my business.

You know it too or else you wouldn’t be here reading this.

There are professionals who are making hundreds of thousand dollars a year in telling you need one.

There are people like Mike Dillard, Mark Hoverson, Michelle Alpha, Ryan Deiss, Frank Kern, Daegon Smith, and David Wood. All having million dollar years from marketing who are telling you that YOU need one.

Buy why is it so important?

I have two words for you, list building.

No doubt that you understand that there is money to be had when you grow your own email list.

It doesn’t matter if you’re building a list for your restaurant, barber shop, affiliate marketing, or network marketing.

Have a responsive list of people to email any time you want that trusts you is like having your own bank.

The key there is however, that you have to have a list that knows and trust’s you. Without those two elements added to your lead generation marketing you just have another collection of emails.

Building Trust with Your List

Email marketing has always been something that I wanted to master. I am pretty sure I have spent a few thousand dollars, easily, on courses.

Which when you think about it was a bit silly since they all really tell you three things that will make you successful.

1) Know your audience.

This is probably the most important point that you should take away here.

If you create a list of people who care about dogs for instance, and all you write to them about is knitting, then guess what is going to happen? Yep, your right, they are going to unsubscribe.

Learn about what you audience cares about in your list.

You can use surveys that you send out on a monthly basis to get a general idea. Or even better, in every email you send out put in a post script telling them to send you questions.

By doing this you are identifying with the people who are following you. And you are now in a position to provide them content that actually helps them. That is the key to building trust.

2) Provide them more value than offers.

I don’t know if you have ever bought a product on the Warrior Forum before but this key point is something a lot of those folks just don’t get.

There is nothing more annoying than buying a product there, or anywhere for that matter, and just starting to learn the concepts when you get an email promoting something else.

I mean really, I just invested in YOU the product creator and this is the thanks I get!

What’s even worse than that?

I was on a guy’s mailing list who not only promoted other people’s products right away. This douche did it on THE SAME DAY I BOUGHT HIS!

And the product was designed to do the same thing his product did, only better. Needless to say I added him to my list called the “no buy/no promote”.

Understand that, yes you can make money by promoting offers to your list, but do it too often and they are going to hate you.

A good rule of thumb is to mail out four emails that only provide value or an entertaining story. And on the fifth day send them an offer.

Even cooler is to find an offer, and then generate a series of five posts related to the topic. In the third and fourth emails put in a post script just recommending the product you’re promoting. And on the fifth one outline all the benefits of the product.

It’s not even pitching when you do it that way.

Especially if your benefits email is done pros/cons style. You’re helping people make a buying decision, not forcing stuff down their throats.

3) Email your list daily.

I have to admit freely that I am the worst at this.

I have one list that I built that I didn’t email for months. Before that I was mailing every day just to get them to come read the content on my site.

Then, nada.

Needless to say the amount of people who open my emails from that list now is significantly smaller. And I only have myself to blame.

Be smarter than me and email your list every day.

This will accomplish two things.

First it will allow you to build that all important trust that we have hitting on. The more trust you have, the more people will read what you have to say.

The second benefit is that it keeps you on their minds. Most people will forget about you in three days if you don’t email out constantly.

But don’t worry about unsubscribes. They are a good thing.

This keeps the people off your list who don’t have the problems that you’re trying to solve. And as a result wouldn’t buy anything you sold anyway. So why mail them?

Seven Benefits of a Great Lead Generation System

Here our conversation is going to focus solely on finding a system that is already set up for your needs and what to look for.

1. Experience and Expertise:

Most lead generation systems are usually built by a single individual or a team of experts with extensive experience in Internet marketing.

They’ve spent years mastering the elements a lead generation system and they want you to have success with their system so you’ll continue to use it.

Having this vested interest in your success means that you will get you money’s worth in training and guidance on the best ways to employ the system and generate leads for free.

But do not be fooled, there are people promoting systems that look like they are created by a pro, but are anything but.

Do your homework before pulling out your credit card and make a decision to work with someone you’re going to actually enjoy.

Also, when you research don’t take other people’s opinions for face value. They are opinions and personal impressions of product. You’re smart enough to know when emotion is effecting the review, both good and bad.

2. Focus on Results:

In order for a lead generation system to show you results quickly is must convert.

Accordingly it must come with training that tells you exactly what traffic generations methods to study and what to do to get results.

The system that you choose to employ should provide immediate training.

And include a Step-By-Step Process (Training and Assembly Kit) that has already proven to get results. This is where 90% of purchased systems fail.

The provide you with a bunch of landing pages to drive traffic to. But don’t bother testing the landing pages out to find out the best traffic to send to them.

Nor do they bother to let you know those best traffic sources.

They just give you the customary training on video marketing or Facebook marketing. But they skip out on the most important part.

How to find your target audience!!

My suggestion is that if you chose to purchase a pre-built system at least know your target audience first. That way if you chose one that doesn’t provide that training, you all set anyway.

3. Funded Proposal: (Money Upfront)

When you pay for your lead generation system you anticipate it’ll give you leads but you can also should expect it to help generate cash for you today.

The success of a system in part will depend on how much money you’re making through the system’s funded proposal.

This helps offset system and advertising expenses.

It could also help you generate a pretty decent residual income for you or your business. Imagine if your system actually paid for all of your on and offline marketing costs.

4. Proven Performance Testing:

Ensure that lead capture pages, sales copy and auto responder messages are all tested for results before they’re implemented inside a lead generation system.

You should be able to leverage the work of the experts. They hand you pages and messages prepared and perfected through testing.

If you’re looking into one that can’t prove they did that, move on.

5. Easy Auto responder set up:

There are many systems integrate an auto responder (email drip system) to build relationships with leads after they come into your lead generation system.

They better provide detailed training how to connect the 2 systems together.

Especially if they are using short codes in the emails to create affiliate links for you. Don’t worry in general this is easy to do.

6. Auto Pilot Messages:

Having an auto responder doesn’t help if you don’t have email messages to drip to your leads, your prospects.

Writing these email “letters” can take a ton of time.

Many of these systems have built in messages you can use immediately to aid you in your lead generation management.

Eventually though, after you start growing your business, you need to go in and change them.

Rewrite them in your own words to take the “system” voice out and put you in. You’ll find that they will convert better that way, especially if you’re driving leads through your blog.

7. Customizable to you!

You’re generating leads for your business so the lead generation software you choose will need to allow you to add in your own branding elements.

The system should let you be in the middle of the whole thing.

Sure you’re using it and promoting it as a funded proposal. But the system should not distract from your main goal, growing your primary business.

If it does that then you need to find another one. Or make it something you promote solely to fund building your own for your main business.

If not, you will find it exceptionally hard to get your leads to focus on anything else but the system and what is offered inside.

Creating You Own

As you can imagine now, creating your own funnel for lead generation is not an easy task to say the least.

Unless of course you have a bit of experience on your side.

If, however, you choose to take it on you’re going to need to have these elements.

Opt-in Offer

This what you are giving away in order to get the sign up.

Typically in the online space marketers use eBooks or video’s. But if you own a small business you can also consider coupons or discounts at your store.

Opt-in form

Most auto responder services provide you with these to integrate into your websites.

There are plugin’s that help customize them. Thus allowing you to create sidebar, in-content, or even pop-ups on your website.

The big craze today is actually exit pop-ups.

These are actually less intrusive than pop-ups but both convert really well. If you’re marketing anything and not using them you’re missing out on leads.

If you don’t like them, and won’t use them out of principle, you’re costing yourself money. Both in your traffic generation and business building efforts. Remember, you’re not marketing to yourself, your marketing to the public and the public fills out pop-up forms.

Confirmation Page

This is the page that should open up after someone subscribes to your list.

When I set mine up I prefer it to open up in a new window or tab. That way if they are on your website looking around your website stays open.

Nothing more annoying to a reader than to have an in content opt-in form that takes them away from information that they really enjoyed but haven’t finished with yet.

Thank You Page

Genuinely say thank you on this page.

Thank you for your trust, your email etc.

Don’t just send them straight an offer.

Typically the thank you page should have the link to what you promised them on the opt-in form as well.

Sales Page

Here is where you start making money.

You copy writing skills are really important here because this is the first time that your new list is going to see your offer.

If you don’t have the skills to write a sales letter, then pay someone to do it for you. Good copy writers cost anywhere from $500 to $50,000 to just write this one page.

And that doesn’t even take into consideration testing variations of that page. (This is why if your just starting out, you need to find a lead generation system that is already done for you).

The System I Recommend To Small Business Owners and New Online Marketers

Having you know how I went about picking a lead generation system is important.

Like you, I don’t want to be just another “affiliate” pimping a product out to people to make money.

Don’t get me wrong the money is nice.

But I prefer to help people actually solve a problem, not become a part of it.

With that being said here is the system I highly recommend: click here now (it opens in another window)

I chose this one because it meets all of the elements I listed above.

More importantly it’s not focused on any market in general. As a matter of fact its real purpose is to provide the training you need to build any venture into a successful one.

The funded proposal piece is great. And actually allows you to promote products that are internal to it. Those products range from $19.95 (the application fee just to be considered to use it) up to $10,000. This allows the system to cater to anyone regardless of where they are in their own businesses.

In Conclusion

I have tried several different lead generation systems that were or still currently are being promoted out there.

MLSP (promotes so many other products to your list that they just get frustrated and leave)

Veretekk (a great idea turned horrible. I learned a lot of SEO stuff from other members but in the end it turned into a pulpit for the owner to preach about how the government sucked and that his religious beliefs are the ones that you should adopt.)

WorldProfit (if you like safelists, traffic exchanges, and in general promoting a system from the 1970’s this one is for you)

And those are the one’s I’m not completely embarrassed to admit to using.

I tell you this to drive home the fact that I didn’t write this to pitch my preferred system (of course it’s doesn’t hurt that I can).

Picking the right system is a major marketing lesson you have to learn if you don’t want to get ripped off.

Hopefully you have discovered a new way to look at how to choose the correct lead generation system for your business. Gone are the days of picking just any set of generic landing pages and hoping to build a list. You’re going to need to ensure that the elements of the system actually support your goals.

Your system should support you and your prospective customers or clients with everything you’re going to need to be successful. As well as fund you’re marketing though its use.

You also discovered what I truly believe is the best lead generation system out there today. It includes landing pages, training, and allows you to fund your marketing for any business model you chose to develop. Research any other lead generation system out there, in the end I am sure you will come to the same conclusion.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

Quote of the Day

“Independence freaks most people out. The thought of standing up and taking responsibility for the birth and success of a business is terrifying… and most will refuse to even entertain the thought.
“This is, by the way, why you should always enter the entrepreneurial world WITHOUT relying on your current crop of friends for support.
“They will not applaud your efforts. They think you’re batshit crazy for daring to even consider being your own boss. They will (consciously or unconsciously) sabotage your progress if they can, and rejoice in your failures… because if you DO succeed, that kills their main excuse for not succeeding themselves. Most folks believe success is all about luck and magic. When you dig in and actually do the work necessary to succeed, you piss all over their world view that The Little Guy Can’t Win. ~John Carlton